Behind the Scenes: The Latest Developments

Things have been a little slow here on Archer’s Aim but I’ve been very busy. Here are some of the behind-the-scenes developments over the last few weeks.

As I recently announced, Podium Publishing has cast a narrator for the audiobook production of The Bow of Hart Saga. I am still working on the full list of pronunciations for the narrator, and a few expanded character sketches. However, I have found out that, while the release date is not yet specifically decided, the most likely month will be September. That’s very exciting news to know at this point and I expect to have a specific date within a few months since production is soon to begin.

Otherwise, in addition to my day job I have also been working on a little bit of freelance writing. I take these freelance assignments to help supplement my writing income and assist with any costs that I incur with my writing. The assignments generally are not very long so I can work through them within a matter of days. When I alleviated my recent logjam, one the things which I decided was that my freelance work would be an acceptable pivot from fiction for a short period of time, so I don’t view these as a disruption, just a temporary shift from my main projects.

Even with the freelance assignment, I am still making progress on some of my books. I have two code-names for the novels on which I am working now, both being the first book of a the series. One project I call “Mage”, and the other one I call “Glove”. I completed Mage some weeks back and have been busily working on a polished rough draft for proposals to traditional publishers should they be requested. Of course, I have no expectation that traditional publishers will choose either of these books, so I am considering my options otherwise. Since Mage is a rather long book already, I am thinking in terms of approaching hybrid publishers should traditional publishers bypass this book. I believe that, since this book is longer, I may be able to produce it at a lower cost but with a bigger, broader production in a variety of formats. I don’t have any word yet from proposals, but I do hope to make some decisions with it in the next month or so.

Glove is still in progress, but I am getting very close to completing the rough draft. Since it was a much shorter book, it is taking a lot less time to complete it than Mage. Regardless, the dictation has made a big difference with the pace of progress for both of these projects. Like Mage, Glove is also being offered to traditional publishers. I am more likely to self-publish this book if it is not traditionally published, since this shorter book will cost me less. However, it may be advantageous for me to use a hybrid publisher since I can more easily gain print distribution to bookstores and libraries.

This leads me to another consideration which has been on my mind. Since The Bow of Hart Saga will be published as an audiobook later this year, I am very interested in going to print. I originally only published the series in e-book format because it was far less expensive for me to accomplish. However, since the series has sold so well, and considering that I had never published anything else while the first two books have won some awards, I am very interested in seeing the series distributed to bookstores and available to libraries. This goal is much easier to achieve if I go through a hybrid publisher. However, it means giving up the high royalty rate for e-books. I have found one hybrid publisher which does offer a much higher possible royalty so I will probably approach this one about taking over the series since it is largely a shovel-ready project. One of the main concerns which I have at this point regarding the series is that I may will be reaching the ceiling for managing the self-publication. Since I have gotten back to a day job, my time to dedicate to my writing is far shorter so I’m interested in getting more out the series with the most effective effort.

Additionally, as I expect to finish Glove sometime this week as an initial rough draft, I will be moving on to developing and dictating a novella. This next project will most likely be a LitRPG series which will be a bit different for me. My approach will likely be to compose the major part of the story-line, and then go back to fill-in all of the various details for this type of book. It will take quite a lot development to make sure that it is a worthy story for the genre. I also have several other LitRPG ideas that I would like to develop in this manner, as well as some regular fantasy.

I have quite a lot to work on and keep me busy but I am thankful that I have discovered dictation as an incredibly handy tool for me so that I can accomplish quite a lot very quickly. My goal this year is to increase the amount of content which I offer to readers, while providing quality. My forays with traditional or hybrid publishers is included in my goals where possible.

Look for more announcements as soon as I have any information but consider that Glove is pretty much completed this week. I will begin dictating a new rough draft very soon and I’m excited to be able to move through projects so quickly and hope to begin releasing shorter projects as quickly as possible. Otherwise, if my novel projects are picked up by a publisher, those will be dependent upon production schedules beyond my control.

Thanks for reading today. As usual, your thoughts and questions are welcome any comments section.

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9 comments

Everyone is so busy right now. I’ve read several posts where work hours cut into writing time. I’ve been in the same boat. There are weekends where I felt like maybe some non-productive time was required. My big push at the office is over now, so I may get around to some new words too.

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